


Bye Dad

by dystopianparker



Category: Iron Man (Movies), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Tony Stark - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Marvel Universe, Other, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Reader-Insert, i wrote this when endgame came out, mcu - Freeform, thought i post it here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28041093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dystopianparker/pseuds/dystopianparker
Summary: You never got to say goodbye, so you built a way so you could.
Relationships: dad!Tony Stark/daughter!reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Bye Dad

You wiped away the sleep from your eyes and took another sip from your coffee to try and stay awake just a little longer. The numbers and letter were starting to blur together on your computer screen. You were so close, you couldn’t go to bed now despite what your body wanted. Pepper had come in a few times and encouraged you to get some rest and you always told her ‘in a little bit’. A yawn passed your lips and with a quick shake of your head you were back to work.  
You compiled every bit of video, audio recording, text message, everything you could find that had to do with your dad into one giant file. Transferring everything into code was difficult, but nothing you couldn’t handle. You had one mission and nothing could stop you from finishing it.  
“Hey kiddo, what you working on?” Tony asked.  
You looked up from your work computer on your desk for just a moment to see you dad in the doorway. “Just working on an AI for school.”  
Tony came around to look at code on your computer. “Code looks good, You come up with name yet?”  
“Not yet. Figured I’d get it working first.”  
“How about Tony.”  
“I’m not naming my AI after you. I already have you nagging me all day I don’t need another one of you.”  
“Hey, I don’t nag. That’s your mother’s job.” Pepper wasn’t your real mom, but since she started dating your dad you couldn’t see her as anything else.  
The TV in the background was playing the news. You weren’t paying much attention to it until an image of Socovia being lifted into the air flashed across the screen. Tony had watched the screen of the news coverage for a second then turned away. The look on his face said everything. He may like to hide behind his sarcasm and money, but you could see right through him.  
You grabbed the remote to the TV and turned it off. At lot of people died that day, just like in New York when Loki attacked and he almost died. Half the world praised the Avengers for saving the world, but the other half just saw the destruction they caused. Not only that, but most of them only seemed to be blaming Tony. It’s not his fault. You knew that, Pepper knew that, deep down he did too, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect him.  
Trying to get his mind out wherever it wandered off to, you asked, “Do you think I’ll ever get a suit? I wanna help fight crime with Earth’s Best Defender.”  
“First of all, that’s an overstatement and second of all, that’s not safe for my daughter.”  
“Oh come on. Wanda’s around my age and she goes on missions,” you protested.  
“Wanda’s different and you know it. I don’t want my kid fighting my battles.”  
“I wouldn’t be fighting your battles. I’ll be helping you fight battles to protect people.”  
You had a point and Tony couldn’t deny the fact that he thought about building you a suit. He even had the start of some plans in his lab downstairs, but didn’t expand on them thinking that it would only bring you into the battle and not away from it.  
“Tell you what. I’ll help you build a suit, if you keep your ass out of trouble, okay?” he bargained.  
“But-”  
“No buts!” he raised his eye brows in warning. “Deal?”  
“Deal,” you agreed.  
“We’ll get started soon, but I came to say goodbye. I have some business in Germany I need to take care of and I still have to make a stop in Queens”, Tony held out his arms for you, “give me a hug.”  
You wrapped your arms around him and he held you close. He squeezed you closer to him than normal, which you knew meant that he didn’t want to go, so you squeezed him just as tight back.  
You never did finish that project. The day before you had to turn it in Tony came home from god knows where looking more broken than ever, but still hidden behind the mask he put on for everyone but you and Pepper. Steve had betrayed his trust and the team, your family, was split up. You stayed home from school and the AI you had started was forgotten.  
Tony did build you a suit, but he said it was for emergencies only. You had only worn it in test flights and around the city once, but never in battle. He wanted you as far away from it as possible despite your protests. You wish you had gotten to wear it in the fight against Thanos. Strange seemed to have called everyone, but you. You were sat your room at the tower working on homework when the infamous blib happened and when everyone had come back you were still in your room not sure what just happened playing it off as you just waking up from a weird dream. If only it was.  
It wasn’t until Happy came crashing into your room that you realized something was wrong. He practically tackled you in a big bear hug.  
“Happy, what’s wrong?” you asked him. When he pulled away you took him in and he looked older, greying hair and more lines in his face.  
He explained that it had been five years. The population being cut in half at the hands of Thanos. Everything that happened. Suffice to say you didn’t handle it well. And on top of everything, you had woken up to a world without your dad. A world without Tony Stark.  
The people around you were trying to move on, deal with the affects Thanos had left on your world, but not you. For the past couple of months, you had been sat at your desk with your abandoned school project working. Pepper was worried about you. She tried to get you to take a step back and breathe, but you pushed her away telling your self that you’ll breathe when your done.  
Now, your AI was almost done. You were just putting together the finishing touches. Finally when you had transferred everything to a small Iron Man helmet figurine that you built just for this purpose. It was like the one he left with a message for everyone after he died, just smaller. Travel sized.  
Now for the moment of truth. You pushed the small button on the bottom of the helmet. A light flickered from the eyes of the helmet and project of your dad stood in front of you.  
“Hey kiddo,” he said with a smile on his face.  
It was him.  
It worked.  
After months of coding, and building the helmet only to have the image flicker and die, it finally worked. Your mouth opened and closed several times catching yourself off guard before you spoke. “Hi dad,” you squeaked out.  
The image of him was just how you remembered him. His beard and mustache were trimmed perfectly, his hair styled but looked like he had run his hand through it a couple times, an AC/DC t-shirt and jeans. It was your dad.  
“Uh,” you exhaled and ran your fingers through your hair. “There’s a lot that I wanted to say, but now that you’re here, I don’t remember any of it. Didn’t think this would actually work.”  
“Well, you are my daughter. And Starks tend to get to it right on the first or thousandth try. There is no in between.”  
“Um. There making us repeat a year at school. For the kids who got- you know,” you said awkwardly, but Tony nodded along anyway. “I haven’t gone much though. With everything that’s happened and...I don’t think I could handle school right now.”  
“Y/N, you should probably go back to school. I’m not gonna have my daughter go without an education. And if you don’t go back, I’m gonna have you march me down to Pepper’s office and so she can nag you into going back.”  
You chuckled at his threat. “I’ll go back, I swear. I just wanted to focus on this first.”  
“So what’s been going on without me?” Tony asked.  
“Oh, uh well, after everyone came back, it’s been pretty chaotic. People are trying to live with it. Happy and Peter’s aunt have thing and he seems happy. Mom’s been busy trying to run the company, and she’s been working with charities to help everyone whose came back from the blib. Morgan’s doing good. I’ve only known her a couple months, but I really like her.” Tony smiled warmly down at you as he took everything in. “Peter has a girlfriend now. I think you would be really proud of him. A lot of shit went down in Europe, but he took care of it. I wasn’t there though. I was too busy- you know, working on you.” You took a moment staring at the floor not looking at your dad, no hologram, before you spoke again. “He really misses you, you know. We all do. I do.”  
The hologram of Tony looked saddened. “I wish I was with you guys.”  
“God, why did you-” you stopped yourself from finishing that sentence. The tears started to well up in your eyes. You knew why he did it. You just wished you were there with him.  
“I never got to say goodbye.” The hologram of Tony looked down at her with sad eyes. “Everyone was there when you died, but me. The message you left didn’t even feel like it was for me.”  
The image of Tony moved closer to you and crouched down to eye level with you. “That message was for you as much as it was for everyone else. I didn’t know if this was work, but I hoped that if I did die that you would be there with your mom and sister listening with them. There was a chance that I would not get to see you after everything. I wanted you to hear it too. To know how much I love you.”  
“I wish I could’ve been there,” you sniffed. “Fought along side you. Save the world.”  
“If I know me, and I do know me because you built me and no one knows me better than you, I wouldn’t have wanted that. That wouldn’t have been safe. I wanted you and Morgan far away from that fight.”  
“But-”  
“Hey. No buts,” he said straightening to his full height.  
His comment made you chuckle a little.  
“What’s so funny?”  
“Nothing. It’s just, that what you said last time.” Your laughter quickly turned back to sobs. There was so much in you heart that it was hard to process everything. The joy of hearing and talking with your dad again, knowing your AI worked, but the sorrow of knowing that it wasn’t really him and that he’s gone.  
“Dad?”  
“Yeah, kiddo?”  
“You-” you wiped your face and sniffed, “you taught me so much. You taught me how to be a better person and that no matter how many times I fall I can always get back up and do better. Even though I never said it to you, you have always been my hero.”  
Tony smiled down at you and said, “And you have always been mine. You were the reason I wanted to be better. I wanted you to grow up in world that was better than the one I grew up in. And now I hope you and Morgan can. I’m just sorry it has to be without me.”  
“Me too. The world is kinda a mess right now, but you brought us back. And it is better because of you.” You reached out your hand to touch him, but your hand went through the hologram.  
The hologram of Tony looked around the room. “Here, grab that,” he said pointing to a pillow that was on the couch on the other side of the room. You grabbed the pillow from the couch and went back to your desk chair. “Now squeeze it real tight.” You did as he said closing your eyes. “Just imagine that pillow is me. And whenever you need me just turn on that helmet and squeeze that pillow. It’d be like I was never gone.”  
If only.  
You sobbed into the pillow not being able to control yourself anymore. Your breathing was erratic, tearing streaming down your cheeks. “Hey.” Tony knelt down in front of you again and place his hand on your knee even though you couldn’t feel it. “I love you so much kiddo.”  
“I love you too, dad.”  
He gave one of his smiles that always made you feel better and then the hologram winked out and he was gone.  
You continued to cry into the pillow pretending it was your dad. It wasn’t the same, but for the moment it would have to do. After a few minutes, you took a couple deep breathes to calm your breathing and wiped the tears off your cheeks. You had finally made your peace. You said your goodbye. And that’s all you wanted.


End file.
